Man Faces Retrial In Killing

October 02, 2002|By MATT BURGARD; Courant Staff Writer

Lucius Richardson and Robin Ledbetter got a lot of attention when they were arrested six years ago in the robbery and fatal stabbing of a Hartford cab driver. That's because, at the time, he was 16 and she was 14, and their youth touched off renewed debate over the controversial issue of trying teens as adults.

Lost in the shadows of the debate, however, was the victim of the crime, 31-year-old Colin Williams, a fun-loving father of two who moonlighted as a cab driver when he wasn't spinning music as a professional DJ, family members said Tuesday.

Now, Williams' family is hoping for a final piece of justice to fall into place as Richardson, now 22, faces a second murder trial at Hartford Superior Court. Four years ago, a jury convicted Richardson of robbery charges but deadlocked on the murder charge.

Despite the mistrial on the murder charge, a judge sentenced Richardson to 37 years in prison for his part in planning and taking part in the robbery, which netted about $500 after Williams was stabbed four times in the cheek and neck.

This week, another jury is hearing similar evidence as prosecutor John Fahey and defense attorney Margaret Levy clash over two separate statements that Richardson gave to police in the days after the Feb. 24, 1996, killing in Hartford.

In the first statement, taken the night of the killing, but before Richardson became a suspect, he told police he was hanging out with Ledbetter and a group of friends, including a young man with the nickname ``Joker,'' when Joker and Ledbetter decided to call for a cab.

He told police the two wanted to rob the cab driver. When the taxi arrived, Richardson said, Ledbetter and Joker ran out of the Martin Street apartment and returned about 10 minutes later, blood covering a knife in Ledbetter's hands.

But when police later interviewed Ledbetter and another woman in the apartment, Danixsa Sanchez, they told detectives it was Richardson who actually took part in the robbery and stabbed Williams.

Five days after the killing, police arrested Richardson and took another statement from him. This time, Richardson told detectives he was the one who carried out the crime.

Fahey says the second statement contains the truth, pointing out that it supports the statements made by Ledbetter and Sanchez. But Levy says the second statement was made under duress as police and prosecutors bore down on Richardson, who she says is barely literate and may not have been fully aware of his rights.

Levy says police should have arrested Joker, who has since disappeared despite police attempts to obtain a statement from him. His identity still is unclear.

If Richardson is convicted once the trial ends, most likely later this week, he could face an additional 60 years in prison. Ledbetter, the accomplice, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for her role in the crime.

``We hope the jury will make the right decision, but nothing will ever take away the loss,'' said Williams' sister, Barbara Findlay.